Music

MUSC 1000. Music at Northeastern. (1 Hour)

Intended for freshmen in the College of Arts, Media and Design. Introduces freshmen to the liberal arts in general. Offers students an opportunity to become familiar with their major; to develop the academic skills necessary to succeed (analytical ability and critical thinking); grounding in the culture and values of the university community; and to develop interpersonal skills—in short, to become familiar with all skills needed to become a successful university student.

MUSC 1001. Music in Everyday Life. (4 Hours)

Dedicated to exploring, expanding, and exploding traditional meanings of what music is; of what it means to be a composer, performer, and audience member; and of what it means to listen. The overarching goal is to provide students with the tools and opportunities necessary for determining for themselves what place music holds in everyday life.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 1100. Topics in Western Music. (4 Hours)

Explores select musical forms and styles drawn from the Western art music canon, from the Middle Ages to the present. Introduces fundamental musical concepts and vocabulary. Analyzes selected works in terms of sound, style, and performance practice. These works are contextualized in relation to their sociohistorical context, expectations of patrons and audiences, composer’s life and oeuvre, and musical and cultural significance, among other factors.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 1111. Rock Music. (4 Hours)

Examines the development of rock-and-roll and its relationship to blues, rhythm and blues, country, folk, and other styles of music. Considers themes such as the role of rock as youth music, the reflections of social realities in rock songs, the relationship of rock to the recording industry and the mass media, and the changing styles of rock. Emphasizes listening skills.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 1112. Jazz. (4 Hours)

Examines the evolution of the creative improvisational musical styles commonly called jazz, from its African-American roots to its status as one of America’s classical musics and an internationally valued art form. Explores the contributions of African and European musical traditions and African-American spirituals, work songs, and blues. Examines major contributors and stylistic development and change through selected audio and audio-visual presentations. Also considers the sociocultural dynamics that have affected musical evolution and acceptance.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 1113. Film Music. (4 Hours)

Emphasizes the various ways that music is used in film, including music depicted on-screen and musical scores. Music is a crucial element of meaning in film, yet its presence is easy to ignore. Offers students an opportunity to learn basic approaches to the analysis of music and sound in film, to develop the ability to think critically about film, and to become knowledgeable about key historical developments in film music and sound. No musical background is necessary.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 1116. Beethoven. (4 Hours)

Introduces Beethoven’s life and works and examines the composer’s significance in the centuries following his death and into the present time. Explores with a critical lens the history behind the composer's central position in the Western classical music canon and asks how and why his dominance continues. Considers Beethoven’s omnipresence and various meanings in 20th- and 21st-century American culture. Topics include defining Beethoven, Beethoven and politics, Beethoven’s life and works, Beethoven and disability, Beethoven and race, and Beethoven and film.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 1118. Music Therapy 1. (4 Hours)

Examines the application of music as a therapeutic vehicle to release suppressed emotions, to encourage self-expression in psychiatric patients, and to treat a wide variety of disorders. Examines music therapy, in a modern approach to health services, as a supplement to other treatments.

MUSC 1119. Fundamentals of Western Music Theory. (4 Hours)

Introduces students with little or no musical experience to all the major and minor key signatures and the following scales: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. Topics include how to read music in treble clef, bass clef, and various C-clefs; how to identify and construct intervals, triads, and seventh chords; how melody and harmony work together to create a piece of music; roman numeral analyses; and various small forms. Short excerpts are analyzed, and students are required to write musical compositions.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSC 1131. Music of Latin America and the Caribbean. (4 Hours)

Introduces students to the diverse music of Latin America and the Caribbean. Students read and write about the cross-fertilization of indigenous, European, and African influences in the music that have created unique hybrid musical genres. Cultural theories used in class frame the conceptual, behavioral, and musical aspects of performance in a number of contrasting music cultures. Students discuss and write about features of the music cultures under study and investigate how music constructs meaning for listeners. Offers students an opportunity to gain an understanding of the important connection of music to its accompanying dance—which shapes the music’s tempo, rhythmic structure, and form—and to develop critical listening skills.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 1134. Guitar Class. (4 Hours)

Provides an introduction to the fundamentals of classical guitar playing for those with or without prior knowledge of the guitar. Covers music reading and theory. Requires students to perform alone and in ensemble with other members of the class. Augments the syllabus by live performances from outside professional and student classical guitarists. Bases final grades on several written examinations and student performance.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSC 1142. Pop, Jazz, and Rock Singing. (4 Hours)

Focuses on singing techniques used in pop, rock, and jazz. Techniques taught, discussed, and applied in class include breathing, tone and vowel production, singing with power without strain, developing range, improvising, and creating one’s own style. Offers students an opportunity to apply these techniques in class, learning through vocal demonstrations in class and through the study of recordings. Singers/songwriters are encouraged to enroll. All levels of singers are welcome; students who enroll should already have the ability to sing generally in tune.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSC 1144. Music and Technology: Stone Age to Digital Age. (4 Hours)

Surveys music and technology from the Paleolithic Age to the present day. Examines the origins and impact of diverse musical instruments, with attention to connections between musical and technological developments; the reasons instruments are accepted, modified or abandoned; and debates about the effects of new technologies on music. Considers such forces as standardization, institutionalization and commodification, as well as experimentation and hacker practices. By studying the sociocultural history of such instruments as the violin, piano, electric guitar, and synthesizer, offers students an opportunity to gain an understanding of the interplay between technological change and enduring human needs for music.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 1201. Music Theory 1. (4 Hours)

Introduces melodic and harmonic practices in tonal music with additional work in chord and melody construction. Develops ear training and sight-singing skills.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 1119 with a minimum grade of C

MUSC 1202. Music Theory 2. (4 Hours)

Continues MUSC 1201. Focuses on harmonic practices in tonal music. Examines the role and function of harmony through analysis of musical examples and composition of four-voice chorales. Introduces study of advanced harmony. Further develops ear training and sight-singing skills.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 1201 with a minimum grade of C

MUSC 1205. Piano Class 1. (4 Hours)

Provides introductory-level study of piano designed for students with or without previous experience. Combines skills in reading music with improvisation and functional piano. Introduces some basic theory to help clarify the structure of class repertoire. Allows students to progress at their own pace. Determines grades by the amount of repertoire mastered during the semester.

MUSC 1901. Music Lessons 1. (1 Hour)

Offers private instruction in voice or in an instrument. Arranges weekly lessons on a half-hour basis. Contact the music department for arrangements. Requires lab fee. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1902. Music Lessons 2. (1 Hour)

Offers private instruction in voice or in an instrument. Arranges weekly lessons on a half-hour basis. Contact the music department for arrangements. Requires lab fee. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1903. Composition Lessons. (1 Hour)

Offers private instruction in music composition. Contact the music department for arrangements. Requires lab fee. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1904. Chorus. (1 Hour)

Allows students to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. Prereq: Audition or permission of instructor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1905. Concert Band. (1 Hour)

Allows students to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1906. Orchestra. (1 Hour)

Allows students to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. Prereq: Audition or permission of instructor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1907. Wind Ensemble. (1 Hour)

Allows students to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. Prereq: Audition or permission of instructor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1911. Jazz Ensemble. (1 Hour)

Designed to serve both music majors and nonmajors, this is a performance/theory/history offering of the varied styles and techniques of performance in the jazz tradition of African-American music. Students are drawn from all segments of the University. Repertory is taken from the standard jazz literature as well as investigations of new works. Improvisational and interpretational technique are the core content of the course. Both the NU Jazz Ensemble and the NU Jazz Combo are represented together in this course. Prereq: Audition or permission of instructor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1912. Rock Ensemble. (1 Hour)

Allows students to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1913. Blues/Rock Ensemble. (1 Hour)

Allows students to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. Prereq: Audition or permission of instructor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1914. Create Your Own Music. (1 Hour)

Allows students to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1915. Chamber Ensemble. (1 Hour)

Allows students to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. Prereq: Audition or permission of instructor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1917. Jazz Choir and Combo. (1 Hour)

Designed to give students who sing jazz and blues the opportunity to rehearse and perform in a small vocal group. Offers students an opportunity to work on singing in harmony and be featured in solos. The group is also accompanied by a student jazz combo. Members of the combo may register for the course for credit. Requires audition. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 1918. World Music Ensemble. (1 Hour)

Explores music-making traditions from selected world cultures through performance on percussion, voice, and other instruments. No previous music-making experience required. May be repeated up to eight times.

MUSC 1919. Fusion Ensemble. (1 Hour)

Offers students an opportunity to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty conductor. Focuses on instrumental rock, blues, funk, and jazz repertoire. Prereq: Audition or permission of instructor. May be repeated up to eight times.

MUSC 1920. Pep Band. (1 Hour)

Offers students an opportunity to participate as performers in one or more ensembles under the direction of a faculty supervisor. The pep band performs at sporting events and other university functions. May be repeated up to eight times.

MUSC 1990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 2101. Black Popular Music. (4 Hours)

Surveys, investigates, and analyzes black popular music from the end of the 19th century to the present. Through critical listening habits and analytical thinking skills, offers students an opportunity to explore black popular culture as a means of expression, communication, and collective identity, attending to issues of representation, identity, values, and aesthetics through a wide range of interdisciplinary sources and methodologies. Emphasizes intersections of creativity, technology, and performance, along with the impact of music industry, audience reception, and cultural politics. Expects students to complete daily exercises and weekly discussion forums in which they must apply critical thinking to synthesize material, complete comparative analyses, relate individual lessons to key course themes, and connect the curriculum to their own experiences and musical listening practices.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 2107. Introduction to Opera. (4 Hours)

Offers an historical, social, political, economic, and artistic overview of the evolution of opera from its beginnings to the present day. Examines basic musical concepts (harmony, melody, and orchestration), structures of opera (aria, ensemble, and recitative), vocal categories and schools, and the relationship between literature, history, and librettos. Offers close study of selected operas in various styles (bel canto, verismo, and so on) by Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and others.

MUSC 2111. Algebra and Geometry of Music. (4 Hours)

Engages mathematical thinking in music with regard to its symbolic (how we represent music using numbers and signs); sonic (how mathematical thinking might create insights into musical sound); and grammatical (the logic by which music proceeds from one time to the next) expressions. Music and mathematics both contain objects that exhibit similar properties, such as circularity, similarity, objecthood, spatial dimensionality, dynamics, and processuality. Draws upon various branches of mathematics, including number theory, set theory, algebra, geometry, and statistics. Such representations highlight fundamental musical principles invoked in the process of improvisation, performance, and composition. As such, musical listening is a key component of the course. Ability to read musical notation or musical experience preferred.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Formal/Quant Reasoning

MUSC 2130. Music of Asia. (4 Hours)

Introduces the musical heritage of a variety of music cultures in Southeast, Far East, and Central Asia, highlighting the importance of music as a human activity and a creative expressive form. Exposure to aesthetic preferences different from the West expands students’ notions of what sounds pleasing, pleasurable, or proper. Offers students an opportunity to learn cultural theories that frame the conceptual, behavioral, and musical aspects of performance in a number of contrasting music cultures. Students discuss and write about features of the music cultures under study, investigate how music constructs meaning for listeners, and develop critical listening skills. Learning about local and global forces that shape music engages students to argue for the positive or negative effects each have on processes of musical change.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 2150. Making a Musical: Analysis, Craft, and Creation. (4 Hours)

Explores how great musicals are constructed and what tools are needed, focusing on how effective lyrics are built; how songs function in musicals; and how book writers, lyricists, and composers create new works and adapt existing works from other media to the musical theater stage. Offers students an opportunity to transform analytical techniques and discoveries into creative strategies, building short musicals in collaborative teams. Students need not be musicians to participate in this class. Aspiring actors, composers, lyricists, authors of all styles, technical theater artists and designers, and all those with a curiosity about the history of musicals and how musicals are made are strongly encouraged to enroll.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSC 2208. Jazz Improvisation. (4 Hours)

Focuses on repertory as well as performance. Examines the great improvisational artists in American music, such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. Approaches analysis from a theoretical as well as a practical perspective. Explores the use of rhythm, chords, scales, and modes in the creative improvisation process.

MUSC 2209. Conducting. (4 Hours)

Provides instruction in the basic gestures used in conducting vocal and instrumental ensembles. Topics include beat patterns, conveying phrasing and articulation, cueing, controlling tempo and dynamics, score study, and rehearsal techniques. Provides an opportunity for students to constitute a laboratory ensemble for regular practicum.

MUSC 2210. Introduction to Songwriting. (4 Hours)

Offers an opportunity to learn to construct songs with forward motion and memorable “hooks.”Topics include time-proven song forms, melody writing, harmonic tools, lyric writing, collaboration, and production techniques. Emphasizes the craft of writing songs for use in film and television.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSC 2211. Advanced Songwriting. (4 Hours)

Builds on the skills covered in MUSC 2210. Seeks to advance the student’s songwriting toolbox via a combination of analysis/transcription, writing, production, critiquing, and analysis. In order to maximize the amount of professional opportunities afforded to the songwriters, this course is highly collaborative in order to model the writing processes most commonly used in the industry. Students who do not meet course prerequisites may seek permission of instructor.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 2210 with a minimum grade of D- ; MUSC 1119 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSC 2310. Popular Music Since 1945. (4 Hours)

Surveys the evolution of popular music styles in the United States, from the end of World War II to the present day. Examines popular music’s development and transformation, highlighting interactions with a wide array of factors including ethnic and gender identities, music business practices, race relations, social and political movements, and technological innovations. Offers students an opportunity to gain a broad overview of the field of popular music studies, its theoretical perspectives and methodologies, and its research sources and materials.

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Societies/Institutions

MUSC 2311. Topics in American Music. (4 Hours)

Explores the musical heritage of the United States through a range of instructor-selected case studies. Offers students an opportunity to learn to identify various styles of music and relate them to larger discourses on a range of topics, i.e., democracy, cultural pluralism, identity, and other themes in American musical life. Uses weekly instructor lectures, readings of both primary and secondary texts, listening/viewing of multimedia, peer discussion and feedback, and hands-on exercises to analyze and explore the varied role of music in American life.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 2312. Historical Traditions: Classical. (4 Hours)

Provides an overview of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and early twentieth-century Western music in cultural and stylistic contexts. Covers some of the best-known figures in classical music: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, and Stravinsky. Considers why and how the great tradition of tonal music defines classical music even today. Uses scores to help understand the different ways music can be written and the different aesthetic definitions of beauty, pleasure, and meaning in sound.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 2308 with a minimum grade of C ; (ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C )

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 2313. Topics in World Music. (4 Hours)

Explores a selection of musical traditions in order to gain an appreciation of musical diversity in terms of aesthetics and meanings. Interrogates the concept of “world music” as a way of sustaining binaries between the West and “the rest.” By studying the historical, political, economic, social, and aesthetic contexts of varied musical practices, offers students an opportunity to learn how music both reflects and shapes its cultural setting. Through varied pedagogical techniques, offers an informed and critical understanding of music as a meaningful form of human expression.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 2317. Punk Rock. (4 Hours)

Explores punk rock as a music genre and a lifestyle, an attitude and a philosophy, a political orientation and a commodified fashion. Everyone’s perspective on punk is different, but it also has rules and boundaries. Although it emerged in the 1970s as a reaction against very specific social, cultural, and musical moments in the United States and the United Kingdom, punk has become larger than itself in the intervening decades, spawning sub-subcultures and subgenres that would be unrecognizable to its originators. Addresses punk’s long narrative: protopunk genres including garage rock and glam rock; punk’s origins in New York City and London; its transformation into postpunk, hardcore, anarcho-punk, and straightedge; and its legacy outside the United States/United Kingdom nexus and in genres such as riot grrrl, grunge, and pop-punk.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 2320. 40,000 Years of Music Technology. (4 Hours)

Surveys the relationship between music and technology from the Paleolithic Age to the present. Examines the origins and impact of diverse musical instruments, with attention to connections between musical and technological developments; the reasons instruments are accepted, modified, or abandoned; and debates about the effects of new technologies on music. Considers such forces as standardization, institutionalization, and commodification, as well as experimentation, hacker, and DIY cultures. Asks whether music technologies are “just tools” or rather carry with them ethical values and ramifications. By studying the sociocultural history of such instruments as the violin, piano, electric guitar and synthesizer, offers students an opportunity to gain an understanding of the interplay between technological change and the enduring human need for music.

Attribute(s): NUpath Ethical Reasoning, NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 2330. Musical Communities of Boston. (4 Hours)

Combines ethnomusicology and experiential learning by exploring the diverse communities of Boston and their music. Since 17th-century encounters between the Wampanoag Nation and English Puritans, Boston has been characterized by intercultural contact and exchange. Discusses the history and legacies of such encounters, as well as present-day issues of diversity and belonging in Boston. Focuses on how communities reinforce their own cultural bonds through music and discusses alliances formed through shared experiences of diasporic, exilic, refugee, immigrant, and minority status. Through interdisciplinary, ethnographic analysis and practice, offers students an opportunity to explore how these inherently intersectional social dynamics—which engage issues of race, gender, class, ethnicity, etc.—play out through collective and individual musical practices.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Societies/Institutions

MUSC 2340. Divas, DJs, and Double Standards. (4 Hours)

Examines the significance of gender to the experience of and access to participation in music making, listening, the music industries, and cultural recognition. Surveys how gender differences have been constructed, enacted, and contested in historical and contemporary musical cultures and develops critical lenses for analyzing musical representations of gender difference and their social impact. Considers how gender intersects with racial and sexual identities in music and its institutional structures. Uses case studies drawn from a variety of contexts, such as classical (Bizet’s “Carmen”), popular (Beyoncé), film (“Star Wars”), and avant-garde (Yoko Ono).

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 2350. Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Music. (4 Hours)

Introduces students from a variety of disciplines to the fundamentals of sonic production, transmission, and reception. Topics include impedance, refraction and diffraction, wave mechanics, frequency spectrum, and resonance. Applies core concepts to the understanding of the acoustics of musical instruments and loudspeakers. Explores basic auditory psychophysics. Offers students an opportunity to investigate real-life applications in the domains of music, sonic art, sound design, instrumental design, and recording.

Attribute(s): NUpath Natural/Designed World

MUSC 2351. Music, Sound, and the Screen. (4 Hours)

Examines the function of music and sound design in contemporary visual media: how they are used in relation to images, and how they work with images to generate meaning and shape experience. Topics include film, television, video games, and the internet; and intermedial forms such as title sequences, trailers, music videos, and commercials.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 2380. The World of Choral Music. (4 Hours)

Presents the genre of choral music and its relevance and practical application in choral communities today. Studies a broad list of choral repertoires of both sacred and secular genres (including, but not limited to, Mass, Requiem Mass, cantatas, choral symphony, oratorios) from the Renaissance to the 21st century, as well as music influences derived from multiple cultures. Offers students an opportunity to learn music analysis and apply repertoire analysis in a practical manner of ensemble work. Students experience live performances of works studied, with performances by Boston choral ensembles, and discuss and reflect on modern-day performance practices/society.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 2420. Music Composition Seminar 1. (4 Hours)

Exposes students to the basic methods of music composition. Analyzes examples from music literature to gain an understanding of the methods employed; students complete several compositions of their own.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 1301 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUSC 2540. Special Topics in Music. (4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to music. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 2990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 2991. Research in Music. (1-4 Hours)

Offers an opportunity to conduct introductory-level research or creative endeavors under faculty supervision.

MUSC 3300. Music Perception and Cognition. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of the perceptual, cognitive, and brain bases of performing, composing, and listening to music for enjoyment and for human benefit. Topics include acoustics and biological processing of sound; theories and empirical research on pitch, rhythm, harmony, melody, timbre, orchestration; similarities and differences between music and language; evolution and development of musical ability; and special populations in musical functions. Includes laboratory demonstrations and exercises in experiment design and data analysis. Requires a final project (paper and in-class presentation). Offers students an opportunity to learn how to design and conduct their own research study in music perception and cognition.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Natural/Designed World

MUSC 3337. Writing about Music. (4 Hours)

Provides an overview of various types of musical journalism including criticism, reviews, feature articles, program notes, promotional material, and so on. Offers students significant opportunity to develop their own skills in writing, editing, research, and interview techniques as they apply to writing about music and the music industry.

Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 3352. Sounding Human. (4 Hours)

Explores how people have used music to answer the question of what it means to be human and how boundaries between the human and nonhuman (animal, machine, angel, alien, etc.) have been inscribed, dissolved, and reconfigured by means of music. Examines historically how certain musical traits have served as signifiers of humanity, while others have signified nonhumanity. Studies musicians who deliberately present themselves or their work as nonhuman as a means to critique limited conceptions of mankind. Develops historical, critical, and ethical perspectives on what it means to be human by focusing on contexts where music has played a role in testing and contesting conventional wisdom (including colonial encounters, technological changes, scientific studies, and science fiction).

Attribute(s): NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 3353. Music and the Racial Imagination. (4 Hours)

Addresses the history of the concept of race, taken as a cultural construct and a lived reality, long used to justify social, economic, and political inequality. Examines the relationship between musical sound and processes of racialization, addressing this relationship through a series of select historical and contemporary case studies, alongside grounding texts drawn from critical race studies, gender and sexuality studies, and ethnomusicology and popular music studies. Explores how the construction and everyday lived experience of race influenced music production, performance, reception, and analysis and how categories of race have been represented and questioned through the sonic and embodied acts of performers.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of C or ENGW 1102 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 3354. Sound and the Sacred. (4 Hours)

Considers the ways in which religious beliefs, ethics, meaning, and practices are embodied within music and what music contributes to faith identities in a variety of religio-cultural contexts, both present-day and historical. Music plays important roles in religious contexts: Among other things, it connects worshippers to spiritual realms; centers practitioners within continuous traditions; distinguishes between sacred and secular spaces (and places); enables communal cohesion; facilitates transcendent experiences; imbues everyday activities with religious intent; orients believers to ritual practices; and contributes to religious identities, both at the individual and at the collective (or congregational) levels. Approaches the study of music and religion as one that benefits from intense attentional investment, using detailed scholarly works to provide intricately nuanced perspectives.

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Interpreting Culture, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 3410. Recital 1. (1 Hour)

Offers preparation for and performance of a minirecital (twenty to thirty minutes of music) under the guidance of the student’s primary instrumental or vocal instructor. Minirecitals are usually shared by more than one student. Students take MUSC 3410 in place of MUSC 4992.

MUSC 3541. Music Analysis Seminar. (4 Hours)

Exposes students to advanced methods of musical analysis. Focuses on techniques for analyzing large musical forms from the baroque period to the present day.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 1202 with a minimum grade of C

MUSC 3550. Historical Traditions: Special Topics. (4 Hours)

Provides an advanced seminar examining topics and issues surrounding musical cultures and histories. Topics vary with each offering. May be repeated without limit.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 2311 with a minimum grade of C or MUSC 2312 with a minimum grade of C or MUSC 2313 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 3560. Topics in Music since 1900. (4 Hours)

Offers an intensive overview of music from 1900 to the present day. Covers the works of influential figures of the 20th and 21st centuries and draws on a variety of repertoires, including American and European “classical” music, jazz, and the music of non–Western cultures. Includes analysis of scores as well as thorough investigations into the social milieus from which the music emerged.

MUSC 3990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 4510. Music and the Brain Research. (4 Hours)

Offers an overview of the perceptual, cognitive, and neural bases of performing, composing, and listening to music. Topics include acoustics and biological processing of sound; theories and empirical research on pitch, rhythm, harmony, melody, timbre, orchestration; similarities and differences between music and language; evolution and development of musical ability; and special populations in musical functions. Meetings include laboratory demonstrations and exercises in experiment design and data analysis. Requires a final project (paper and in-class presentation).

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 2350 with a minimum grade of C or MUSC 3300 with a minimum grade of C or PSYC 2320 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Natural/Designed World

MUSC 4622. Recital 2. (1 Hour)

Offers preparation for and performance of a senior recital (forty to sixty minutes of music) under the guidance of the student’s primary instrumental or vocal instructor.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 3410 with a minimum grade of C

MUSC 4651. Music Research Capstone. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to complete an original research-based project on a musical topic. Organized around a shared theme such as music and entertainment, music and globalization, or music and creativity. Includes seminar-style discussions of readings that introduce students to the state of knowledge on the theme, in addition to a range of research methods and conceptual frameworks. Guides students through the research process from the formulation of questions through finding and interpreting sources, developing arguments, and crafting the presentation of results in oral and written form. Students also have the opportunity to integrate research with multimedia, performance, and/or other creative components.

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSC 4970. Junior/Senior Honors Project 1. (1-4 Hours)

Focuses on in-depth project in which a student conducts research or produces a product related to the student’s major field. Combined with Junior/Senior Project 2 or college-defined equivalent for 8-credit honors project. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 4990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 4992. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Focuses on independent work in a selected area of music under the direction of a member of the department. Enrollment is limited to qualified students by special arrangement with the supervising faculty member and with the approval of the department chair. May be repeated without limit.

MUSC 4993. Independent Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers independent work under the direction of members of the department on a chosen topic. Course content depends on instructor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 1204. Analyzing Popular Genres. (4 Hours)

Continues MUSI 1203. Examines the role and function of various musical elements by analyzing examples from popular music. Examines structure, lyrics, and instrumentation in popular music. Offers students an opportunity to further develop ear training and sight-singing skills.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1203 with a minimum grade of C or MUSC 1201 with a minimum grade of D-

MUSI 1230. Introduction to Music Industry. (4 Hours)

Examines business-related areas of the music industry. Topics include music publishing, copyright, the function of performing rights organizations (ASCAP and BMI), talent agents, artist management, concert promotion, and royalties and contracts.

MUSI 1990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 2231. Music Licensing for Media. (4 Hours)

Examines a variety of music usages in film, advertisements, TV shows, and other media types or venues that require music licensing. Offers students an opportunity to examine licenses and agreements in an effort to enable them to customize boilerplate forms to reflect accurately the needed licenses with any and all customized terms. Stresses teamwork, defining roles within a team, and assertiveness in an effort to enable students to function at their highest level for the demanding team-based final project. The final project stresses resourcefulness, meeting deadlines, creative excellence, along with open and sustained communication between the production side and the creative side.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 2232. Music Recording 1. (4 Hours)

Introduces the history and practice of recording music. Covers recording apparatus; microphones; monophonic, stereophonic, and digital theory and techniques; field recording; studio terminology; basic sound theory; and development of rudimentary editing skills. Also examines the role of the producer vs. that of the technician, preparation for recording sessions, and basic legal regulations regarding copyrights and compensation.

MUSI 2234. Festivals. (4 Hours)

Examines the multiple ways in which festivals affect musical life. Analyzes festivals both as music communities concentrated into limited temporal and geographic frames as well as social and cultural institutions situated within particular historical and cultural contexts. Studies what a festival does; what we can learn from the history of music festivals; how festivals have impacted social, cultural, economic, and aesthetic hierarchies; and what festival organizers consider when making artistic, financial, and administrative decisions. By the end of the semester, successful students should have a comprehensive understanding of both the business and the cultural contexts of music festivals, which they should be able to demonstrate through individual written, multimodal creative, and group assignments.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 2235. Copyright in the Creative Industries. (4 Hours)

Explores the balance of interests at the heart of copyright law, including enhancing the public interest, supporting innovation, and protecting private property rights. Offers students an opportunity to gain an appreciation of the significance of copyright in the structure, operation, and customs of the creative industries. Focuses on the unique character of music-related copyright issues and addresses the music industries’ outsized impact on the development of copyright policy in the United States.

Attribute(s): NUpath Societies/Institutions

MUSI 2330. Performing Arts Administration. (4 Hours)

Introduces music management including the structure of nonprofit organizations (such as arts service organizations, arts centers, symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, ensembles, opera companies, and university arts programs) and the structure of for-profit enterprises. Examines financial management, funding, and audience development.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

MUSI 2331. Music Recording 2. (4 Hours)

Offers students the opportunity to learn additional skills in the recording process, such as material marketing and distribution, contracts and negotiations, and establishing distribution channels. Includes hands-on studio production of record-quality material.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 2232 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 2341. Music Supervision 1. (4 Hours)

Covers the field of music supervision, which has become an in-demand field due to the increased use of songs in TV shows, films, live events, advertisements, websites, and other forums. Discusses the whole process, from choosing the perfect song/lyric to strategies for securing licensing with artists and publishers. Offers students a hands-on opportunity to make music selections fit a variety of media and also to structure licensing/contract deals for composers, publishers, and record companies. Final project involves networking with Green Line Records and external rights holders to license and place music into a series of scenes and advertisements.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 2540. Special Topics in Music Industry. (1-4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to the music industry. May be repeated without limit.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

MUSI 2990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 2991. Research in Music Industry. (1-4 Hours)

Offers an opportunity to conduct introductory-level research or creative endeavors under faculty supervision.

MUSI 3332. Artist Management. (4 Hours)

Provides an in-depth investigation of the field of musical artist management. Explores the artist-manager relationship, the management contract, artist evaluation, image formulation, the artist’s development team, achieving a recording contract, merchandising, endorsements, sponsorships, touring, and financial management.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

MUSI 3333. The Record Industry. (4 Hours)

Examines the domestic and international record industry. Topics include industry structure, business and legal affairs, the recording contract, royalties, manufacturing, distribution, promotion, publicity, advertising, licensing, and piracy. Offers students the opportunity to explore major record labels and independent labels. Addresses the past, present, and future.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 3334. Music Products Industry. (4 Hours)

Provides a thorough examination of business organization, marketing, distribution, and sales techniques in the diverse field of the music products industry. Investigates market sectors such as musical instruments; professional, semiprofessional, and home audio equipment; the recording industry; and print music.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

MUSI 3338. Music Industry Marketing and Promotion. (4 Hours)

Provides a thorough examination of the principles and applications of marketing and promotion within the music industry. Students explore how music companies successfully conduct product, pricing, distribution, and communication management. Approaches music marketing issues using readings, specific music marketing case studies, lectures, guest speakers, and projects.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

MUSI 3340. Concert Promotion and Venue Management. (4 Hours)

Provides an in-depth exploration of the principles and practices of concert promotion and venue management. Focuses on areas such as concert promotion, venue advertising, talent buying, contractual requirements, insurance, government regulation, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP)/BMI licenses, personnel management, and concert production and administration.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 3341. Music Recording 3—Mixing and Mastering. (4 Hours)

Covers specific topics relating to the final stages in music recording—mixing and mastering. Discusses criteria for making decisions about levels, equalization, dynamics, time-based effects, and spatial positioning. In-depth listening and analysis are designed to augment hands-on practice using both students’ current recordings and professional recordings from the past forty years.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 2331 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUSI 3351. Music and Social Justice. (4 Hours)

Introduces theories of ethics, morality, and equality and strategies to advance social justice—to ensure equality and human dignity for all people—through music. Explores the music industry as both a microcosm of society and amplifier of our collective ethics. On stage, on the record, and through direct action, musicians worldwide use their art and renown to serve social movements. Many also face equality and equity challenges within the music industry. As future professionals, students may either challenge or reinforce the injustices they encounter in their professional and personal lives.Through critical discourse on professional ethics in the music business and service-learning projects requiring direct community engagement, seeks to empower students to make a lifelong commitment to ethical decision making and advancing social justice.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Ethical Reasoning

MUSI 3360. Global Music Industries in Context. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to obtain the cultural curiosity and adaptive dexterity needed to analyze diverse global music industries in their historical, cultural, economic, and political contexts. Through the labels, scenes, and digital spaces that form the professional settings for today’s global music professionals—explored in course readings, creative case studies, and summative research projects—identifies the many ways in which diverse industries consolidate music production, distribution, and consumption. Students encounter and analyze diverse professional practices and creative products and critique music’s value—financial, social, political, ideological, and personal. In addition, students practice critical reading and observation and identify traditions within the social sciences and cultural criticism that provide valuable theoretical lenses for the interpretation of global music industries in context.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Difference/Diversity, NUpath Societies/Institutions

MUSI 3401. Hip Hop in the Music Industry. (4 Hours)

Focuses on black popular music as art, activism, and commodity from the post–Civil Rights era to today. Studies the immediate musical, historical, cultural, and industry-based precedents for rap music, which emerged in opposition to the music industry—and many other institutions that perpetuated the inequalities against which early hip-hop artists were protesting. The contemporary moment provides a unique opportunity for refocusing on the origins of hip-hop and black protest music as they relate to the industry’s embrace and commodification of certain aspects of hip-hop culture. Explores the dynamic tensions between rap music as aesthetic object, countercultural expression, social commentary, and industry commodity, engaging with current expressions of all of these in the Boston area.

Prerequisite(s): ENGW 1111 with a minimum grade of D-

MUSI 3540. Special Topics in Music Industry. (4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to the music industry. May be repeated up to two times.

MUSI 3990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 4530. Music Entrepreneurship. (4 Hours)

Designed to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to plan, finance, develop, and operate a new music venture. Topics include attributes of music entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial careers, evaluating opportunities, writing business plans, financing the venture, and long-term management and planning.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C ; (ACCT 1201 with a minimum grade of D- or ACCT 1209 with a minimum grade of D- ); ECON 1116 with a minimum grade of D-

MUSI 4601. Seminar in Music Industry. (4 Hours)

Presents a capstone course for music industry students. Offers advanced students the opportunity to explore contemporary events and issues in the music industry. Allows students to reflect upon, distill, and apply knowledge accumulated in prior courses and previous experiential learning. This reflection and application occurs through substantial writing assignments and classroom discussion. Fulfills the college’s experiential education requirement for music industry majors.

Prerequisite(s): MUSI 1230 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Societies/Institutions, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUSI 4990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 4992. Directed Study. (1-4 Hours)

Focuses on independent work in a selected area of music under the direction of a member of the department. Enrollment is limited to qualified students by special arrangement with the supervising faculty member and with the approval of the department chair. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 4993. Independent Study. (1-4 Hours)

Offers independent work under the direction of members of the department on a chosen topic. Course content depends on instructor. May be repeated without limit.

MUSI 5540. Special Topics in Music Industry. (3,4 Hours)

Focuses on various topics related to the music industry. May be repeated up to two times.

MUSI 5900. Ethnography in Creative Industries. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to work together on a class project with a partner organization, conduct individual ethnographic projects, and experiment with different forms of documenting and presenting ethnographic research. Ethnography includes participant/observation and other qualitative methods. Ethnographic research provides insights into institutions and organizations within creative industries—their particular corporate cultures, structures, priorities, market emphases, divisions of labor, etc. Ethnographic data informs corporate strategy and contributes to marketplace research. For creative producers—actors, architects, artists, dancers, designers, musicians, writers—ethnography can inform creative practice, enriching the artworks that form the core of creative industries. Studies what we learn from ethnography, what purposes ethnographic research is best suited for, how ethnography contributes to strategic decision making, and how ethnography enriches creative practice and art making.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Societies/Institutions

MUST 1220. Introduction to Music Technology. (4 Hours)

Provides students with instruction in the use of a computer for composing original music. Topics include MIDI sequencing, digital audio processing, and sound synthesis. Students use music hardware and software to complete a variety of projects.

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data

MUST 1301. Introduction to Composition. (4 Hours)

Designed as the first step in the education of a student composer. The art and craft of composing music is grounded in knowledge of fundamental concepts and hands-on experience. Offers students an opportunity to acquire competence in the notation and layout of a score; develop basic compositional skills (control of melody, harmony, rhythm); and obtain a wide and deep knowledge of the musical repertory.

Prerequisite(s): MUSC 1201 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUST 1990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUST 2102. Composing with Digital Technologies. (4 Hours)

Offers students an opportunity to create compositions using a digital audio workstation (DAW) as the principal tool. Standard Western music notation may be used in examples of certain techniques but will not be necessary for the creation of work in the course. Explores various composition topics such as periodicity, form, texture, timbre, and contour in the digital domain. Consists of a number of short composition and listening assignments culminating in the creation of compositions of moderate duration.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUST 2320. Sound Design. (4 Hours)

Instructs students in the art of producing and designing musical accompaniments for a variety of media including film, TV commercials, industrial video, animation, games, theatre, and radio drama. Focuses on abstract thinking regarding sound theory and practice and includes hands-on skills. Restricted to music majors and combined majors; all other students require permission of instructor.

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov

MUST 2431. Computer Music Fundamentals. (4 Hours)

Focuses on the creation and implementation of standard time-domain audio synthesis routines and effects, as well as standard frequency-domain processing routines. MaxMSP is the principal programming environment used in the course. Begins with programming protocols, as well as data structures and storage, and list processing in the MaxMSP environment before moving on to standard synthesis and audio processing routines. Examines how the techniques learned in the course can be applied using a variety of synthesis and spectral processing software applications that are standard in the field.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 1220 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Analyzing/Using Data, NUpath Formal/Quant Reasoning

MUST 2990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUST 3540. Special Topics in Music Technology. (1-4 Hours)

Focuses on topics related to current trends in the area of music technology. Topics vary with each offering. May be repeated without limit.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 1220 with a minimum grade of C

MUST 3601. Digital Audio Signal Processing. (4 Hours)

Introduces students to digital signal processing as it relates to offline or non-real-time audio processing. Covers fundamental engineering concepts and mathematics. Examines implementation details of common digital audio processing routines using the C programming language, the industry standard for audio software engineering.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 2431 with a minimum grade of C

MUST 3602. Electronics for Music. (4 Hours)

Introduces analog electronics in the context of audio synthesis and control. Topics include the basics of electronics and analog audio signals; passive components, transistors, operational amplifiers, and sensors; analog audio synthesis, filters, amplification, and modulation; and the basics of hacking and circuit bending. In-class activities center on designing, building, analyzing, and testing sound-emitting circuits.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 2431 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Natural/Designed World

MUST 3603. Embedded Audio Programming. (4 Hours)

Explores embedded computers and their employment for the design of interactive audio applications. Studies how to program audio applications that take advantage of the unique features of these systems, which is accomplished by transferring the coding skills acquired on general-purpose computers to the languages and the programming rationales of embedded hardware. Primarily covers low-latency, real-time audio synthesis/processing but also offers an in-depth introduction to physical computing, sensors, and simple electronics. The final project offers students a concrete opportunity to gain experience with the full design-development-test cycle of software and hardware interactive audio technologies.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 2431 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Natural/Designed World

MUST 3990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.

MUST 4610. Composition for Electronic Instruments. (4 Hours)

Instructs students in the composition of original music for electronic and computer-based instrumentation. Students create music to accompany video, animation, and film, and study suitable methods for creating original music for the Internet. Also surveys examples of music written for similar contexts.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 2431 with a minimum grade of D-

Attribute(s): NUpath Creative Express/Innov, NUpath Interpreting Culture

MUST 4611. Music Technology Capstone/Senior Recital. (4 Hours)

Instructs students in the preparation and presentation of their senior recital. Fulfills the college’s experiential education requirement for music technology concentrators.

Prerequisite(s): MUST 3540 with a minimum grade of C or MUST 4520 with a minimum grade of C or MUST 4610 with a minimum grade of C

Attribute(s): NUpath Capstone Experience, NUpath Writing Intensive

MUST 4990. Elective. (1-4 Hours)

Offers elective credit for courses taken at other academic institutions. May be repeated without limit.